Screening: In the Hands of Al Qaeda + Q&A

Monday 4 February 2013, 7:00 PM

Followed by a Q&A with reporter Ghaith Abdul-Ahad and producer Jamie Doran.

Featuring interviews with the main protagonists from all sides, award-winning journalist Ghaith Abdul Ahad travels into the heart of Yemen’s radical heartland. He provides a first-hand report of how members of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) have taken advantage of turmoil in the country, imposing their rule on areas of south Yemen in a first ever attempt to establish its own state.

In Ja’ar, a town with a population of over 100,000, the Al Qaeda administration has abolished taxes, provided free water and electricity and installed sewage pipes. Their trucks distribute water to villages and Bedouin settlements. People living in the desert on the outskirts of town have said the jihad had connected their village to the electricity grid for the first time in their lives.